The Time Of Your Life
by TTOYL-Obsession
Summary: The truth behind the mysterious Hogwarts years of the Marauders revealed. Follow the Marauders though the good, the bad, the sad, the ugly, the scary, and the funny times that contribute to the lives of the most fascinating four boys you'll ever meet.
1. PLEASE READ

**PLEASE READ:**

Alright, I do not own any of these characters; they are all J.K. Rowling's. So let's just get that all straight. Okay no, all these topics, people, places, things, etc. are all J.K. Rowling's. No animals, objects, or people of any kind were hurt in the making of this book, and if you don't like how I portray the Marauders, or if something is against your beliefs, I'm eternally sorry, but don't start complaining to me all the time. If you have a problem with it, don't read it. Easy and Simple.

I don't mean to be mean or anything, I just don't like people coming down on me or anyone else for their hard work. Creative license my children, it's a good thing.

I only hope you don't say anything to me about my work that you wouldn't want me saying about yours. No I'm not perfect, but if you have any questions, or have any constructive criticism, go ahead and send me a message, just make sure it's said in a nice way, or else I'll probably ignore it and then it's just a waste of time for you.

Well anyway, I hope you enjoy TTOYL (The Time Of Your Life)!


	2. The Meeting

**_Hogwarts: 1971 - _The Meeting**

_WOOOOOOOOO WOOOOOOOOOOO..._

An immaculate scarlet train howled shrilly above the loud hum of excited voices. The station was packed with people of all ages and sizes. But above all, several children stood out in the crowd. It was not only because of their age, or height, but because of the looks on their faces, which set them apart from the rest of the bustling throng of bodies. Their face's appearance seemed to be one composed of fear, excitement, joy, insecurities, and nausea, which was why most of them looked a ghostly pale.

However, one particular boy in the horde of people seemed quite far from scared and insecure.

Quite the contrary, he looked delighted and confident.

This boy was alone on the station, which was a rare sight, but seemed not to be phased by this fact. The boy's face was a bit childish, as children his age's faces generally are, but long and oval shaped with dark, black hair that fell with a casual elegance into his large, warm, gray eyes. His raven locks reached about to the ends of his ears and looked quite like he had just gotten up out of bed with it looking that way, which was most likely the case. The young boy was tall and gangly looking, but didn't look quite as tall due to him leaning onto a large trolley, piled high with trunks of all sorts. At the top of this pile was a beat up trunk with several pieces of fabric sticking out of it. The trunk was a deep emerald and inscribed on it, in scrolling sliver calligraphy was two letters: S.B.

Finally he stood up straight and adjusted his shirt, which was wrinkled and torn in a few places, before pushing the heavy trolley to the grand train.

"Hogwarts, here I come!"

He called out in a strong, but still quite young, sounding tone. His face was practically glowing with joy, at the thought.

-

Another boy was getting on the train at this time. He, also, had dark hair, but it somehow didn't look near as relaxed or alluring, as the other boy's had. It stuck up at odd angles around his head and seemed to be ruffled up a tad too much.

A further difference was quite striking about this other young man; he had big, round rimmed glasses, sliding down his thin nose. They magnified his hazel eyes a little, but not so much for him to look rediculous.

Shoving his trunk into an empty compartment, he realized that he had no one to sit with on the long journey to his new school.

This presented a problem.

Once his trunk was wedged snugly into it's appropriate spot, he opened the window and stuck his head out, waving madly at his parents.

Yes, he would miss them... for a few seconds.

Slowly his fears about people not sitting with him dissolved into nothing, who cared anyway? He'd meet people eventually.

He was James Potter for heavens sake...

Pulling his head back inside the compartment, he closed the window (with much more difficulty then opening it) and then threw himself back into the cushioned seats. Excitement was pumping through his veins and enveloping his entire body with anticipation. What would this school bring?

He was the only child of his parents, who were a bit older then most other kid's folks, but he didn't think he was missing out on anything. They spoiled him rotten and didn't have any other children to compare him to.

That's why he enjoyed this so much.

On the other side of it, he did get lonely... but hopefully, soon, all that would change.

To this young boy, Hogwarts was a new adventure, shrouded in mystery.

If anyone would have told him all the things he would be doing there, he would have thought them crazy.

For now, he was ecstatic at the thought of going to 'The Best Wizarding School' and that was enough for him.

-

"MUM STOP IT!"

A sandy blonde haired boy flailed his arms around helplessly, attempting to ward of his Mother, who was attempting in vein, to get something off his cheek.

_Using saliva._

"THAT'S NOT SANITARY!"

The woman merely laughed and brushed his hair away from his face, looking down at him with pride and sadness, etched into the lines of her face. But the most prominent look on her face was worry. Worry for her poor child, who would be going off to school, without her or her husband to help him with... his troubles.

The man behind her just watched them with a weary look in his eyes.

"'Course It's sanitary Remus. Quit being so funny about it..."

Finally she gave up and let her hand fall back to her side. The boy let a look of triumph take over his scarred face until his mother, out of nowhere, took her thumb, licked it, and rubbed it across his cheek. This time, the smile of triumph belonged to the woman, who laughed at her son's disgusted and horrified face. She leaned in to kiss him on the cheek but he ducked her and picked up his trunk, making her look like she was attempting to kiss the air.

"Alright Remus, You win... Have a good time..."

"Send us an owl..."

The parents said tiredly as the woman patted the boy on the back, nudging him towards the train.

Quickly, the boy began striding towards the large crimson train until a feeling of sadness wrapped around him. A frown took the place of his grin and he turned around slowly, to look at his mother, who had stayed in the same place he had left her, with an upset look on her face. His father was behind her, murmuring something of comfort in her ear.

Biting his lip he turned back, handing his bags to the constructor, who was shouting how long they had before they departed for the school.

But the poor boy was too much of a sap to get away that easily. As he put his foot on the first stair, leading into the train, he sighed loudly and ran back though the crowd to his parents.

Which only made matters worse.

His mother was crying now, and his father looked on the brink of tears as well. Seeing this made the boy, too, start to cry, throwing his arms around them in a tight, but wet, embrace.

All dignity he could have left with was dashed away.

_Bugger._

But for the moment, Remus didn't mind that much. He wasn't going to see his parents for awhile, so why not say a sappy, dramatic, goodbye.

He was reminding himself of a girl more and more each day.

Finally gathering himself together, he wiped away his tears and turned back to the train. Determined to get on the darned train without having another ridiculously juvenile episode. The constructor smiled at the boy and handed him his trunk, once he was all the way up the stairs. The carpet proved a good tool in dragging the heavy bag down the hall of compartments. But the boy soon found that none were empty, so he decided to attempt to find a compartment with someone his own age.

At least there would be that.

-

A pudgy and short boy stumbled onto the train, pushing a trunk, bigger then he was, though the hall until he found an open compartment. It was empty, and he was surprised at his luck, which usually seemed to be running rather low...

But slowly he noticed that there was another trunk on the trunk rack, which was defiantly not his own.

This could be a problem.

Wiggling uneasily in his seat, the little blond boy glanced around the compartment, wondering who had put it in there. It was rather tattered looking, and for some reason, it scared the heck out of him. But, what didn't?

His mind began to wander, thinking of impractical and horrible reasons why the trunk was there. Maybe there was a dead body in there, and it was chopped up pieces of a student. Maybe they'd find him there with it and assume he was the culprit. Azkaban didn't sound very appealing to him one bit.

Maybe it was a stolen bag of Galleons, and someone would think he stole it. Or else they would kill him because they wanted it for themselves. What if someone was bugging it like all those muggle movies he had watched, and was watching him that very second?

He now regretted picking his nose.

Fiddling with his jacket nervously, his eyes darted around the room, but he didn't see anything...

_What was that!_

He swore he had just heard something.

A groan. Yes, that was what it was...

A groaning chopped up man in the trunk with millions of Galleons that was stolen and a killer was looking for.

He knew that going to this school was bad news.

His life was over.

_And I haven't even hit puberty yet!_

_Ah well, I heard it was a horrid experience anyway..._

"EAHHHHGGG...!"

The boy had now jumped from his seat and pushed his hands into his pockets, his fingers curling around a long piece of wood. Pulling it out as if it was a sword he then began madly waving the wand about frantically. Though he knew not how to use it, had had a feeling it still might scare off the living dead.

"Hmmmmmhhh...?"

At this new sound, he jumped backwards in a cold panic which caused him to fall backwards onto a coat he hadn't really noticed being there before. But not only was it a magical appearing coat but it was actually rather lumpy... and made an odd groan/yelping noise when the boy fell onto it.

"ERRGGGGHHHhhhh!"

The horrified boy fell off the lumpy coat and onto the ground below, as something began moving within it. Poking his wand in the general direction of the coat-thing hysterically, he soon noticed that he kept missing the lumpy object in the coat. This was due to just how dreadfully terrified he actually was, which had caused his entire body shudder and tremble violently.

"Y-y-you...! I-i-i-i... g-got... a... A WAND! And...and...a-and..."

But the lump was now thrashing around wildly, as if wrestling with the coat. Finally a hand appeared from under it and pulled the jacket off what appeared to be another boy. On his face was a look of both surprise and alarm, while the other boy just looked sickly and afraid.

"Eh... Mate? What are you doing there with that? You're gonna poke my eye out if you're not careful... put it away won't you?"

Obeying the orders, he lowered his wand back into his pocket and stared up at the boy, his skin still an eerie shade of white, though he was no longer that scared, it was mostly just shock that kept him silent. The boy across from him then brushed a bit raven hair from his eyes and casually, leaned back onto his elbows, like he saw trembling plump boys brandishing pieces of wood at him all the time. Instantly, the blond boy decided that he envied this other boy very much, and wanted to be just like him.

"Well that's better, you gave me quite a start there... and, by the look on your face I must have given you one as well. WAIT! Where are my manors! You don't even know who I am! Sirius, Sirius Black, and you are...?"

The blond boy fidgeted a little before getting gingerly to his feet then plopping down across from Sirius.

"I'm P-Peter... Peter Pettigrew..."

Peter said this quietly, and then upon looking down, noticed that Sirius had stuck his hand in the air and was staring intently on him with his steely gray eyes. With a start he took the strong hand with his own, pudgy, one and shook it weakly, staring at the other boy in awe. How he so wished he could be as cool as he was!

This boy just radiated 'cool'.

He was one of those guys, that no matter what they do, it's automatically cool, just because they did it. But if someone like... say Peter... attempted the exact same thing, he would just look like a complete idiot.

That's what Peter never understood about boys like that, and that's why Peter enjoyed placing himself around those boys. It was almost like he was hoping some of it would suddenly rub off on him.

But obviously, that hadn't exactly happened yet.

_WOOOOOOOOO WOOOOOOOOOOO..._

The train sung this last warning as its wheels began churning nosily, as if raring to go.

Sirius observed Peter with a slight interest before pulling his gaze back to the window, which now showed that they were beginning to pull out from the train station.

He couldn't have been happier to be leaving home, so this did not upset him in any way. Feeling his stomach growl angrily at him, he turned back to Peter, throwing him a cocky grin.

"So, what does a guy have to do to get some food around here?"

-

"Hello,"

"Hello,"

"My name's James Potter, what's yours?"

"I'm Remus Lupin; it's nice to meet you,"

Stiffly, the two boys shook hands across the seat, but neither seemed too thrilled. Tearing their hands away from each other they just stared each other down for a while, as if they were in some kind of old western movie, and waiting for the other one to draw.

"So, Remus, what do you like to do?"

"Read, I like to read and to learn, and yourself,"

"Erm... I like Quidditch, and... um... sports?"

James didn't mean to make this sound like a question. But it kind of turned out that way. _Could this kid actually like reading and learning? Is that even possible? _The thought baffled the poor boy, someone so keen on learning? This had never been a possibility in his mind.

"Oh, that sounds fun,"

"Yea, it is,"

An awkward silence swept over the two as they stared at each other, obviously trying to understand what they had done to deserve such a weird person's presence.

_He's a looney, no one can like... **...This boy, so uncultured and rude, why had I decided to sit here at all? Oh god and his hair, could it possibly be more...** ...Weird, he's weird, look at those scars? How could he possibly get those from learning and reading? Did the book attack him or... **...Can I slip away? Maybe he won't notice. He looks stupid enough to...** ...not notice... **...me...** ...leaving... **...now.**_

At the same time, both boys stood up rapidly and collided into each other with a large crash of their heads. Remus yelped and fell backwards, and James' glasses fell off his nose when he stumbled backwards, dropping to the ground and shattering under Remus' foot.

"MY GLASSES!"

He howled, stumbling to the ground and feeling around for them. But his hand only met several shattered pieces of glass and metal, cutting his finger tips.

"THEY'RE BROKEN!"

Recoiling his hand from the pieces of glass he looked up at the blur in front of him.

"YOU BROKE MY GLASSES!"

"NO I DIDN'T! YOU JUMPED UP AND LET THEM FALL OFF, PUSHING ME BACK SO I STEPPED ON THEM! IT'S YOUR FAULT!"

"YOU BLOODY LIAR! YOU BROKE MY GLASSES! FIX THEM!"

"I DID NOTHING OF THE SORT! AND IF YOU WANT THEM FIXED I SUGGEST YOU BE A LITTLE KINDER TO THE PERSON YOU'RE ASKING TO FIX THEM!"

"FOR MERLIN'S SAKE, YOU BROKE THE BLOODY GLASSES, SO YOU HAVE TO FIX THEM!"

"I WILL NOT DO ANYTHING OF THE SORT FOR YOU, AND I NEVER WILL!"

Then Remus stood up, making sure to smash the glasses into smaller pieces, before storming from the compartment and leaving James alone to fume. Just in time, a blur appeared at the door.

"What's the problem? I heard shouting..."

It was a boy's voice, about his age. Then he took out a blur from what looked to be his pocket and said:

"Reparo,"

The glasses flew back together and slid back onto his nose, letting him see more clearly who had cast the spell. It was tall boy with black messy hair that fell gracefully around his eyes.

"Sirius, Sirius Black,"

He said, sticking out his hand to help James up. James smiled and pulled on it, slowly getting back to his feet before adjusting his glasses. He then noticed another boy behind Sirius' shoulder.

"And this is Peter Pettigrew,"

Sirius added, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder at the blonde boy in the hallway.

"I'm James Potter, nice to meet you both..."

He said grinning and letting go of the boy's hand. James could tell by the look on Sirius' face that this was going to be the start of an excellent alliance...


	3. The Sorting

**_Hogwarts: 1971 - _The Sorting**

The Great Hall was a marvel indeed. Hundreds of candles were hanging over their heads in midair, glittering and dancing around the ceiling. Sliver plates and dishes were set out carefully around four long tables, one for each of the houses, and one at the front of the hall, facing the other four tables, for the teachers. But the ceiling itself took the attention of all the other decorations, for it's breathtaking masquerade as the night sky was purely spectacular. A silvery moon shown through the high windows and the sky around it matched the ceiling of the hall exactly, as if there were no divider, and the ceiling merely wasn't there...

Gleaming stars dotted around with swirling clouds as if it were painted there with shimmering slivers, pearly whites, and midnight blues. It was all that perfect.

"Bloody Hell..."

Sirius said in awe, while scooping his jaw back off the floor. Peter hadn't talked since they had gotten in the boats to go across the river, James and Sirius assumed he had some kind of fear of water. Although, for some reason, Peter seemed to be that way about a lot of things. Even after he had finally retained his normal shade of pale, as soon as they had gotten off the train he turned a ghostly white again and began shaking like a leaf. But he couldn't possibly be scared of everything... _right? _Wrong.

The first years shuffled into the hall, in a line at the front of the hall, facing the rest of the school. Oddly enough, Sirius and a teacher named: Professor McGonagall, (a tall, blunt woman with a tight bun, glasses at the tip of her nose, and a tall, pointed hat, which only made her look taller) had just a bit of a brawl and so resulting in Sirius, Peter, and James being in the front of the line, starting with Sirius. But neither Sirius nor James seemed to mind being in the front all that much, though Peter most certainly did. His shaking had increased from being like a mere leaf to being a tree in a tornado. All color was drained from his body; even his robes seemed a duller gray then the others'. Though the other two boys were hardly paying attention to this small fact, and instead, paying more attention to the book worm that had broke James' glasses.

Professor McGonagall was just explaining that they were indeed, still going in alphabetical order, just with a few arrangements due to three loose lipped boys. However, this did little to effect just how loose their lips were...

"There he is, Sirius. To the left. No my left! Your right. No, your other right! Yea... with the scars..."

"Blimey, can you possibly get that from paper cuts..."

"Either that or his lessons are quite extreme..."

"I could hardly imagine him doing anything other then prance around on a little pink pony with..."

"_Gentlemen, if you will..._"

A harsh voice came from behind James and Sirius' adjacent heads. The sudden voice had jolted them a bit, causing the heads to knock together. But this only made them laugh a bit, a far cry from the drama that had occurred after James' last head collision. Beckoning Sirius angrily with her hand, the boy slowly looked toward the teacher, as if she was a venomous snake ready to strike. It was a good thing he wasn't in a house yet, otherwise he would have lost them at least fifty points so far, and that was only between the amount of time of getting into the castle and sitting on the stool with the sorting hat on. Which, although seeming like an eternity, is only about five or six minutes.

"BLACK, SIRIUS,"

Professor McGonagall's voice ran out though the silent room. But as Sirius started towards the middle of the hall, Sirius' smile only widened, because everyone's eyes were on him. This was just the way he liked things. Walking in almost a procession-like manor, he finally reached the stool and plopped dramatically onto it, letting his eyes widen with over expressive anticipation, as the ragged old hat was placed on his head.

Sirius knew what was coming, he was a pure blood. He was told a thousand times how it worked, his first day. He would sit on the stool and the second the hat hit his head it would proclaim miraculously: _SLYTHERIN! _In a loud booming voice, so that the entire crowd roared with delight (or so his mum told him). But Sirius had another thing in mind entirely.

Slowly Sirius heard a whispering in his ear, as if someone had snuck up behind him and was talking quietly in his head. It was the oddest thing he had yet experienced, but it wasn't that unusual compared to his everyday life back at home.

_So, Mister Black, where to put you... You're a pureblood I see... and your parents, very interesting..._

**_Not Slytherin, I would go anywhere else, just not there._**

_Why ever not? Your mother would have a field day..._

_**Exactly.**_

_Well... Slytherin isn't your fit I suppose..._

_**Yes, I think so too.**_

_Alright, if your so rigid about this... better make it a..._

"GRYFFINDOR!"

A table at the far end of the room erupted with cheers, which mostly came from the female population, but Sirius was too caught up in 'sticking it to the man (or mum)' to really take note of this. Happily, he bounded over to the clapping table and settled down in front of an empty plate, staring intently up at James as his name was called as well. Professor McGonagall, however, was looking less then pleased, though Sirius had yet to figure out why.

"POTTER, JAMES,"

James was much less sure of himself then his new friend before him, and walked tentatively up to the hat as if it was going to jump up and eat him. Sitting down gingerly on the stool, the dusty old hat was lowered over his eyes, and he too heard the little voice in his head.

_Mister Potter, what an honor it is, what an honor... Great things for you, great things..._

_**Please, put me with Sirius...**_

_Ah, your friend, Mister Black, is it? Well I suppose..._

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The table once again exploded with applause, though, Sirius was by far the loudest of them all. Professor McGonagall looked about ready to rip apart the hat at this point. The first two ended up together in Gryffindor, but the boys still had yet to know of why she maddened her so.

"PETTIGREW, PETER"

She called out tiredly. _Surely, _he too wouldn't be set in Gryffindor as well...

_Mister Pettigrew..._

At the sound of the voice, Peter screamed shrilly and toppled backwards off the chair. McGonagall jumped up at once and rushed over to him, setting him back onto the stool and explaining the situation to him for the fifth time. A few snickers could be heard around the hall as he cautiously let the hat be settled, once again, onto his head.

_Peter, Peter, it's quite alright to be afraid, but honestly..._

_**DON'T! Don't put me in Hufflepuff... I mean it, I'll work double hard.**_

_Mister Pettigrew I can't help but feel that..._

_**I want to be with them! Please, please don't...**_

_Very well..._

"GRYFFINDOR"

By now the hat sounded frustrated and annoyed, which only mirrored the face Professor McGonagall was making. The sorting was now going according to plan, all in alphabetical order. Now the three boys were gazing up at the stool watching and commenting on every new student up there.

"He's a bad one, he is. That's what my dad told me..."

"I heard he's the brother of..."

"Look at her, she's really pretty..."

"If you take off her enormous glasses..."

James made a face.

"What's wrong with glasses?"

One by one the first years went up to be sorted, the boys continuing their lasting commentary. There wasn't many Gryffindors after the three boys, it was as if the hat had purposely not wanted anyone in there.

"EVANS, LILY,"

A small redheaded girl approached the stool and James' eyes couldn't be kept off her. He didn't say a word about it, but merely watched with anticipation.

_Please be Gryffindor... Please be Gryffindor_

In his mind, she was the prettiest girl yet, and it'd be so much nicer if she was in his house. It'd make it easier on the eyes and much more interesting. He couldn't yet put his finger on it, but he wanted her in his house for some strange reason.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The hat shouted finally. James was the first to jump up and start clapping, as she was one of his friends. She began to blush a little and walked over to the table, taking a seat next to Peter. Now that she was closer, James could see that he had some little brown freckles sprinkled over her nose. But something much nicer caught his eye about her, and that was her almond shaped green eyes, that were so incredible that he couldn't keep his eyes off them.

"Um... why are you staring?"

Lily said bluntly as she sat down next to Peter. James suddenly snapped out of it and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Er... no reason, just thinking..."

The sorting continued, with Sirius throwing several smug glances at James that said something to the effect of: _Thinking about what, mate? Hmm?_ But James clearly ignored him and kept his gaze on the line as it began to thin, one by one.

Soon enough, that Remus boy was up next and he looked nervous enough.

"Little git,"

Sirius muttered in James' ear. James nodded and watched as the Professor read off his name.

"LUPIN, REMUS,"

Remus tottered to the stool and sat on it quickly, pulling the hat over his head. He wanted this whole thing over with as soon as humanly possible; he could tell he was getting odd stairs from those three boys, epically James. _Great, first day here and you've already made friends.. _He thought bitterly, as the Hat began to speak.

_So, Mister Lupin, where to put you..._

_**Not with them in Gryffindor... please not there...**_

_Not Gryffindor, huh? Well I'm getting rather tired of all these requests..._

_**Please?**_

_Nope... sorry my boy, but you'll thank me later..._

_**What? NO, wait...!**_

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The hat called triumphantly, as Remus glared down angrily on it. It would be much harder to keep away from the three stooges if he had to be in the same house as them.

_Great... Stupid hat..._

But he wasn't the only one who had a problem with this decision, Sirius and James were having a field day with it.

"He's in _our_ house? This is impossible! WHY?"

James said angrily, stamping his fist on the table.

"You're being rediculous; he has as much a right to being in this house as you do,"

James' head snapped around and stared upon the face of the redheaded girl. She was looking rather angry herself and had her arms crossed over her chest. This made James' voice fail him and he didn't speak another word about it. This worked well, because Remus had reached the table then and set himself next to Lily, smiling and putting out his hand.

"Remus Lupin,"

"Lily Evans, nice to meet you Remus,"

James began to glower at him. How _dare_ he just start introducing himself to that pretty girl? And how dare she protect him! He broke James' glasses purposely and just walked away from it, and James wasn't about to forget it any time soon. Sirius and Peter exchanged confused glances at the reaction of James but shrugged it off, letting their attention go back to the sorting.

"SNAPE, SEVERUS."

A greasy looking, dark haired boy, wiggled his way to the stool at the sound of this name. His face looked rather odd, kind of like a caricature. He had a big hooked nose that took up most of his face and little eyes that flickered every which way as if waiting for someone to attack him. The look on his face told them that he didn't enjoy being stared at one bit and Sirius automatically thought he was absolutely hilarious.

"Look at that guy! And his NOSE!"

But Lily was far from amused. She had tore herself away from her interesting conversation with Remus ("I agree, the Fidelius Charm sounds absolutely fascinating!") and turned to glare at Sirius.

"What's so funny about him? He's just a first year like you,"

Sirius opened his mouth to say a nasty remark back but James had stomped on his foot under the table, which had switched his attention to his foot.

"OUCH! Merlin, James what's the matter with you..."

But by the look on James' face Sirius just fell silent.

"SLYTHERIN!"

The hat called in a booming voice. The table across the hall cheered as he slunk over to sit with his new house mates, but Sirius, being Sirius, had one more thing to say about this.

"Slytherin? That rotten, no-good, dirty..."

"SHUT UP!"

Lily fumed, pushing herself up from the table and staring down at him. Sirius gapped, _what had I done to her?_ But it didn't matter at the moment, this girl was getting on his last nerve. He didn't want to constantly be watching what he was saying, just because James had his weird reason for not wanting to put her in her place. Sirius didn't take this kind of attitude from people, and he wasn't starting now.

"No, I won't, because I have a reason for not liking that house and I'm entitled to my own bloody opinion,"

"JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE AN OPINION DOESN'T MEAN YOU HAVE TO SHARE IT!"

Remus was now yelling too. His scar covered face was pink from his shouting. The table was now staring at them, and they had no idea that the sorting was coming to a close.

"Well I want to hear his opinion..."

Peter said weakly, trying to suck up to the two boys. Sirius threw him a grateful look and stared back at Remus, who said nothing. James opened his mouth to say something else but they were soon interrupted by a booming voice.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

Said a tall man in the middle of the teacher's table. He had a long slivery beard with matching hair, and was wearing midnight blue robes with half moon spectacles that slid down onto the tip of his nose. Dumbledore, the headmaster, grinned down around at his students.

"Welcome, Welcome first years, Welcome those who are returning! I know you are all hungry, and so am I! Eat Up, the feast is complimentary!"

Suddenly the empty dishes and plates began overflowing with different foods. Meats, puddings, bread, vegetables, fruits, and many other things the boys had never even seen before. Overcome with their hunger, they completely forgot about their little battle and pushed those thoughts aside to heap food onto their gleaming sliver plates.

The hall was filled with the sounds of cheerful voices, clattering sliver wear, and food being piled messily onto the plates. Even the teachers looked in fairly good moods, all except for Professor McGonagall, who looked sickly and deeply annoyed.

"She's probably just mad that we all got in the same house,"

Sirius told James, who he noticed was staring at the teacher with a confused look on his face. Peter, on the other hand, was poking at the food with his fork, as if trying to make sure it wasn't going to eat him first.

"I think I might be allergic to dairy products... do I look any different?"

He said worriedly, touching his face with his hands as if he was going to feel that his nose had blown up to the size of Severus'.

"Yes, your turning purple..."

Sirius stated gravely, nudging James in the shoulder.

"Ouch, oh... OH! My! Why are you all purple, Peter?"

Peter's face turned an even paler shade of white, so he almost looked gray. He pushed his plate away from him and jumped up sprinting towards the doors to check his reflection. Unfortunately for him he did not realize that he had no idea where the bathrooms were... This could prove to be a slight dilemma...

-

Meanwhile the two boys were laughing hysterically, shaking a little with laughter.

"That look on his face..."

Sirius said in between bouts of laughter.

"...priceless..."

James agreed, unable to breathe almost. But Lily and Remus were far from pleased, but kept their thoughts to themselves, continuing their conversation on the thrill of Apparition ("It must hurt to be splinched!"). Finally when the two boys calmed down they noticed that they were becoming drowsy from eating so much.

By now most of the hall was settled down, a sleepiness falling over them all. Noticing this new manner among the once rowdy students Dumbledore stood up and smiled down over them all.

"Now the feast is over and done I'd like to invite you all to walk to your common rooms and get to bed, a new year starts tomorrow and you'll need your rest. Prefects need to gather the first years and show them the way, make sure to spread around the password only to those among your House and make sure to remember what is off limits. They're posted in the common rooms, and I do hope you take note of them and stay clear of the designated places. Have superior dreams my pupils, and I hope we all have another fantastic year here at our magnificent school,"

A polite applause spread rapidly though the hall and soon a screech of benches signaled the rising of the students. The two boys looked around for Peter but did not see him return, but they soon forgot as they were swept into the throng of people, all moving towards different exits.

"First year Gryffindors, First years this way,"

Called a tall boy and girl, who were waving above the crowd. The many new students swarmed around them as they headed off through a giant set of double doors and into a wide hallway. However, the trip to the common room wasn't a short one.

Soon the young boys and girls were growing all the more tired, fast. Long stairways and winding halls all made their little legs grow tired. But finally they trudged up to a portrait of a lady who was rather pudgy. Excitement built up inside Sirius' chest, he had heard about the Sytherin common room, but not the Gryffindor one. And the funny thing about it was, they were arch enemies. Sirius was expecting a howler the next day. But he didn't care much; he made his mom mad and achieved his goal. Aside from the impolite duo, Remus and Lily, he liked his new house-mates, and was immensely glad that James was in his house. They seemed just to get along so well... they were so similar.

The fat lady glanced down at them, setting down the mirror she was admiring herself in just a few seconds before.

"Password?"

She said in a highly superior voice. The two prefects just rolled their eyes.

"Avis,"

The tall boy said, and the portrait swung open to reveal a hole in the wall. But in the hole was something that made the crowd of children gasps a bit. A beautiful room of red and gold stood before them. Several over stuffed arm chairs were set around the room with a large crackling fireplace on the wall. Gorgeous patterns of scarlet and gold covered every inch of the room, and glowed in the flickering firelight. Fierce paintings of lions and brave people were displayed on the walls and they all smiled and waved as the children tumbled into the room. Two staircases were at the far side and the prefects explained that they should go up and their things were already set up. Remus and Lily bid each other goodnight (much to James' disapproving glares) and hurried up to their rooms, but there was a slight problem.

"WHAT!"

James cried, seeing that Sirius, Peter and him had an extra guest... Remus Lupin.

"NO!"

Remus said hopping backwards and gripping his pajamas close to his chest. Peter was yet to be seen and Sirius' happiness had dropped completely from his face.

"What's he doing here?"

Sirius commented, as if Remus wasn't there.

"I'm your new roommate..."

Remus said grudgingly.

"IMPOSSIBLE!"

James shouted, flinging his arms into the air.

"Well I'm not happy about it either,"

Remus huffed, letting his guard on his pajamas down a second.

"But if you're here I must get one thing straight, no questions, no talking to me, no touching my stuff, understand?"

James and Sirius looked about ready to hurl him out the window.

"Fine, but same goes for you,"

Sirius said crossing his arms over his chest.

"Fine,"

Remus replied just as icily. They all stared at each other then sighed loudly, before pulling on their pajamas and falling asleep without another word.

_**But where was Peter?**_


	4. The Mission

**_Hogwarts: 1971 - _The Mission**

Peter wasn't seen for over a week. His things around his bed stayed untouched and unnoticed for nine days until someone noticed his strange disappearance.

"Have you seen Peter lately?"

Sirius asked James while walking to Potions. Ever since the train James and Sirius had been attached at the hip, they were going everywhere together, doing everything together, and talking about everything together. It was a friendship that was simple enough; they both liked each other and had similar view on almost everything.

"No, I actually haven't... I saw him last when he thought his face was purple..."

James replied confusedly, tucking another book into his bag and throwing Remus a mean look as he passed them.

"Yea, I haven't seen 'em since then either!"

Agreed Sirius, while trying to avoid a cluster of giggly girls, who only seemed to begin chattering faster and more excitedly as he passed. Sweeping his fingers through his messy hair he shook his head, clearly oblivious to the flustered girls. James frowned and turned the corner heading down into the dungeons.

But they had no idea...

"MEEPHHHHH!"

Something was banging and yelling. James jumped in fright and Sirius almost fell to the floor.

"Wh..what?"

"EEELLLLHHPPPP MEEHHHHHH"

The noise grew louder, and the boys could tell it was behind them.

"Should we run for it?"

Sirius asked shakily, pulling himself back to his feet. But James shook his head and turned around, to see a broom cupboard door, shaking and pounding.

"ELLLLLLLPHHHHHH MEEHHHHHH...!"

The noise came louder, making some dust fall onto the floor in front of it. James shook a little but carefully picked his way across the hallway to the door, his heart beating like a drum in his ears. Sirius joined behind him, equally as cautious. But just as James reached the knob a giant gust of air flew at them, knocking James backwards onto Sirius, who tumbled onto the stone floors as well.

Out popped a slivery wisp of smoke and light, which looked almost see-through, they could make out a face and his body.

"ELLO! ME GOOD CHAPS! THE NAME IS PEEVESY, SEE? I CAME UPON YOUR LITTLE FRIEND WHO ASKED A QUESTION FOR ME! HE SAID HIS FACE WAS TURNING BLUE, NO PURPLE'S WHAT HE SAID, HE SAID THAT I SHOULD HELP HIM CLEAN UP HIS LITTLE HEAD! BUT PEEVESY WAS A GOOD LITTLE BOY AND MADE SURE HE WAS KEPT LOCKED UP. 'CAUSE CRAZY FOLK AND RANTING BOYS SHOULD NOT BE RUNNING AMUCK!"

Peeves twirled around and laughed until he disappeared through the ceiling. The voice was now louder in the cupboard then ever before.

"ELLLLLLLLLLLLLPHHHHHHHH MEHHHHHHHH!"

James got up first, and quickly ran to the handle to wench it open.

Out tumbled Peter with a big wad of socks in his mouth and his hands glued together. Peeves had abducted him and stuck him in the closet; apparently on the false pretences it was going to help Peter's face. But the first words out of Peter's mouth once Sirius and James had successfully gotten all the socks and glue off him was:

"Is my face still purple?"

This only made James and Sirius begin to break out in hysterical laughter. Peter blinked down at them, and looked as though he couldn't possibly fathom why they were laughing about this.

_Is it really? Maybe my whole body is purple!_

Finally regaining their composure, James and Sirius grinned at Peter.

"Yep, defiantly not purple..."

Sirius said nodding solemnly, with James stifling a laugh with a cough.

The finding of Peter proved to be a good thing as they made their way to the potion class room, with the stout Professor Slughorn teaching. Peter seemed to make everything a bit more humorous to Sirius and James, and they both were happy to have found him. Peter took away all thoughts of that mean old crusty Remus, who was sitting only a few stations away with Lily.

Peter was in the middle of talking excitedly to James about his new fear of cupboards when he put too many porcupine quills to his boil cure potion and made it begin to bubble over turning a flamboyant ginger color and begin to smoke. Sirius looked at it and grinned, obviously liking the effect, and took two fistfuls of stewed horned slugs and threw it in the bubbling orange mass. Which made Lily and Remus look over disapprovingly as the cauldron began to spark and turn a violet blue. Professor Slughorn suddenly saw the boys and yelped, running over to them.

"DON'T! WHAT EVER YOU DO MR. BLACK DON'T YOU PUT IT BACK ON THE...!"

But it was too late. The overexcited Sirius had already picked up the smoking cauldron and set it back on the fire.

"DUCK!"

Slughorn yelled, as the entire class flew under their desks, except for poor Slughorn, who didn't react quite as quickly as his students. Suddenly the entire blue mass of potion, which was now thicker and gooey, grew rapidly into a giant bubble until it became too big for the cauldron and popped.

Sapphire goop was sprayed everywhere, and especially on the Professor, who was now looking more like a giant blue blob then a stout, chunky teacher. But his face under the goop was steaming with furry.

Sirius on the other hand, was looking rather pleased and was laughing about the matter. It so happened that since Lily and Remus had been right next to the cauldron; they too got a full blast of the gummy mess, and were now having a horrible fit of outrage.

Peter looked terrified and James only looked smug. It served that rotten know-it-all right to have it all over him.

"Class... dismissed..."

Professor Slughorn said tiredly, as if it took all his energy not to blow up as well. Sirius, James and Peter were the first to bolt out of the room, followed closely by the rest of the irresponsible class, which were all still laughing about the incident.

Sirius was now the new class clown, and class hero. What he said or did was automatically turned to gold, like he had the 'Midas touch'. James was now swept up into this whirlwind of popularity as well and now, was getting more attention then he could have ever hoped for. Together, Sirius and James were the most admired boys in the first year, which Peter only saw as a sign that he had picked the right two to be friends with.

The two never had to do anything; if they said it aloud it was like it was done for them. The popularity soon got to their heads and they began thinking that they needed to do something better to keep up their reputation.

_But what?_

While sitting in the common room one night, the two were talking about possible pranks to do when they found the perfect idea.

"GENIOUS!"

Exclaimed Sirius, dancing around in his pajamas as he listened to James' idea.

"So all we need to do is get a really big blanket or something and get them all into..."

James explained, getting excited as well. But as they were talking a very angry looking scarred face appeared behind James's head, glaring down at him. James, however, kept talking about all the details until he noticed Sirius' terrified expression.

"What is it, mate?"

He said confusedly as he turned around to follow Sirius' gaze.

_Bugger._

Remus Lupin was standing there in his night robe and fuzzy slippers, looking furious with his arms crossed over his chest.

"So, You too are going to play a prank are you?"

He said smoothly, walking around them like a vulture ready to strike, while Sirius and James soon found that they were toast.

"Well I'm not going to let you, I'm going to go straight to Professor McGonagall and..."

"Minerva? What does she have to do with it?"

Sirius piped up, cutting Remus off mid-sentence.

"_Professor McGonagall...," _

Remus said icily,

"... happens to be the head of Gryffindor House..."

Sirius and James' jaws fell to the floor. _That snobby lady was their head of house? _Realization now dawned on the two boys as they finally added 2 and 2 together to find the reason why she looked so glum when they were sorted.

Why couldn't they of had Flitwick? He seemed like he would have much more understood...

"... and has no tolerance for troublemakers and pranksters like you two!"

He finished triumphantly, with a slight glowing look about his face, as if he had been waiting to turn them in for ages.

But the two did not go down without a fight, however, in the end, the both promised to annoy neither Remus nor Lily, and not to follow through with their prank.

Unfortunately, the trouble is, when making a promise with James Potter and Sirius Black, you have to make sure they don't have their fingers crossed.

-

The weeks until their big event were drawing nearer and soon the day had arrived that they would unleash their grand prank upon the school, and they had already made up a game plan.

Agents:

**Black, Sirius** Code name: Black Dog

**Potter, James** Code name: Great Stag

**Pettigrew, Peter** Code name: Fat Rat

Your missions, should you choose them:

Mission One:

Fat Rat will be sent to the dormitories when subjects are absent from the home base during their morning meal. Take off all the draperies in the male sleeping quarters and proceed to sew them all together to make the enormous bag. Then hide under Black Dog's bed and proceed to the morning meal as customary and giving Black Dog the signal.

_Mission One Accomplished._

Mission Two:

Black Dog will then depart undetected of his next class and proceed to the Care of Magical Creatures store room, where he will continue on to take the most sizeable sack of owl cuisine he can administer and transport it to be stuffed securely under his bed as well, returning to his class and giving Great Stag the signal.

_Mission Two Accomplished._

Mission Three:

Great Stag will walk to the sleeping quarters and retrieve both the bag and the seed, pouring all the seed into the bag before enchanting it to float where he wills it before proceeding with caution to the main quarters where he will wait for Black Dog to give him the signal from outside.

_Mission Three Accomplished._

Mission Four:

Black Dog will give the signal and Great Stag will open the largest window, making the bag float down into the awaiting arms of Black Dog, who will charm it to fly to the Owlery where both Great Stag and Fat Rat will be waiting for it.

_Mission Four Accomplished._

Mission Five:

Black Dog will drop a dung bomb in the Great Hall, which will keep away student subjects, and attract teacher subjects to the area, making sure that none go by way out the doors towards the Owlery where Great Stag and Fat Rat will be opening the bag and letting all the owls fly into it. After securing all the owls in the Owlery into the bag, Fat Rat will give the signal to Black Dog, who will take the bag around the back doors and into the secure designated hallway where Fat Rat and Great Stag will meet him.

_Mission Five Accomplished._

The bag of owls began hooting shrilly and was rather hard to handle as the three boys carried it to the largest stairway they could manage and were about to open the bag when they heard footsteps.

"Abort! Abort Mission!"

Sirius cried, trying to stuff the fluttering bag into the nearest corridor. But soon the footsteps were growing louder and louder, too fast for Sirius' vein attempt in hiding the massive wad of drapes.

Soon the origin of the footsteps was visible, and its maker only made Sirius and James groan.

Remus Lupin.

Remus looked absolutely appalled at them. Sirius' heart beat quickened and he felt a sudden jolt of energy, followed by a little voice in his ear.

_Run for it,_

Quickly he attempted to bolt down the stairs but Remus was close behind, catching his robes in his hands. Sirius tumbled down the stairway with Remus along with him making a massive blur of cloak and body. James and Peter both took this opportunity to run off in separate directions, unnoticed by Remus. When the two boys finally hit the bottom of the staircase, they were a mess, feet and arms flailing everywhere, cloaks ripped, bruises forming, and to top it all off, a mad scramble to get unwound before the other.

Sirius was untangled first and began sprinting back up the stairs, trying to get to the bag of owls. However, Remus was just as fast, tailing after him closely. Finally Sirius reached the floor with the bag and began running towards it in a mad frenzy when he felt something seize the tail of his robes which sent him flying forward onto his face with a large _CRACK!_

Remus was holding on to his robes with a firm hold, his knuckles turning white from his grip.

Quick footsteps were now heard down the hallway and soon the body of Professor McGonagall was seen sprinting towards the two boys, who were sprawled out on the floor next to a hooting and moving mess of hangings. This was a very odd sight indeed.

"WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME IS THE MEANING OF THIS?"

McGonagall shouted with a furious look upon her stern face. Pushing themselves up slowly the boys looked at each other with an expression of disbelief and almost a hint of absurdity. But with a loud throaty noise from the Professor, both of them snapped their heads back to look at her.

"I said: What has happened here!"

She repeated a little more calmly this time, eyeing the bag skeptically with a raised eyebrow. Remus looked to Sirius, to the bag then back again as if fighting a battle inside his head.

_He's going to rat me out..._

_He's going to rat me out..._

Sirius could already hear McGonagall's voice in his head: _DETENTION FOR ETERNITY MR. BLACK! And as for you, dear Mr. Lupin, you will be given honors and a medal for services to the school._

Meanwhile, the professor was getting very impatient with the two boys and sighed angrily.

"Well if you won't tell me what's in this bag, I'll just have to open it..."

"No!"

Both boys chorused, but it was now too late. McGonagall had opened the top and all the owls had came shooting out into her face, knocking her backwards onto the ground as they began to shoot around the school, hooting loudly and dropping special surprises everywhere.

Just like they'd planned.

Remus looked close to laughter and Sirius' eyes were watering. The look on her face was the most priceless thing they had ever seen.

After re-gaining her composure the professor had looked Remus straight in the eye and said.

"Tell me the truth, Mr. Lupin, what happened?"

Obviously, Remus was the responsible one and surely wouldn't have had anything to do with it so he'd be the perfect one to ask. Sirius threw Remus one more pleading glance before Remus opened his mouth.

_Bugger._

"Professor, Sirius and I were walking to the Owlery when we saw Peeves there stuffing the Owl in the bag. We tried to stop him but he ended up just stuffing us both in as well. He had dropped us here. We had barely gotten out of the bag without getting all the birds out but we managed, and once we were here I realized too late that Peeves glued my hands to Sirius' robes so when he was running to go fetch you, I came with him and we both fell onto our faces, Then you came here and found us after I had managed to say the charm for getting glue off things,"

He said it so effortlessly and with enough emotion that Sirius himself almost believed him. But not even Remus' convincing manor was enough to break the look Sirius had on his face at that moment, which was sheer and utter disbelief. The boy looked as if his eyeballs had been popped out from his head. But Remus didn't look at Sirius, only at Professor McGonagall, with a very embarrassed and shameful look in his eyes, as if he was humiliated by the story of Peeves tricking him.

Apparently, McGonagall ate up every word he had said and they were free.

Sirius recognized that there were certain things that a person could do for you that you were just obligated to be fond of them for...

_...And lying to a teacher to get them out of trouble was definitely one of them._

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_TTOYL-Obsession 33_


	5. The Willow

**_Hogwarts: 1971 - _The Willow**

It wasn't easy to convince the others that Remus was good, but finally Sirius was able to make James accept him, though he still had his doubts. But eventually as the month went on they came to be quite good friends. The new four-some were almost the most popular boys in Gryffindor. Another valuable quality of Remus' was his intellect, which came in handy when revising papers and _trying_ not to make things explode during potions ("I swear, I didn't mean to put that much Powdered root of asphodel in!").

Soon the days began to fade by quickly until they were nearing the end of September and boarding October, which made the air begin to grow crisp and cool. Leaves were beginning to fall and Sirius was noticing Remus beginning to grow paler and paler.

"What's the matter, Remus? You look sick,"

He mentioned one day, when Remus was looking extremely off-color, almost like Peter on the first day of school. Remus suddenly looked scared and jittery, like the question was terrifying.

"No...Nothing, just coming down with the cold or... something..."

He muttered turning away from the three to stare out the window to the grounds outside. Looking over his shoulder as well, Sirius saw, to his surprise, Dumbledore and the herbology teacher with a giant floating tree, hovering over near a hole in the ground. Remus' face looked a little paler, and Sirius wondered why this was, but decided to ask later about his heath, and instead, changed the subject.

"What do you think that Dumbledore's doing with that tree?"

Sirius said conversationally, motioning to the giant, willowy object. Remus didn't meet his eyes, Peter looked scared and James only shrugged.

"It looks horrible... look how it's moving!"

Peter pointed out in horror, stabbing his stubby finger in the direction of it's branches, which were flailing about angrily towards Dumbledore. James looked very interested at this and pressed his nose to the glass, trying to get a better look. It was lucky the three were so caught up in the new tree so they didn't see the look on Remus' face, which was one of pure nervousness. Sirius, meanwhile, was still staring out at the tree and wondering what color the flames would be if he set fire to it.

It amused him to no end the different colors of flames, and especially the different reactions from different things.

Like dung bombs, for example, explode when lit, and the fire usually turns a deep green, while acid pops begin to melt, bubbling and foaming as they eat away at anything it comes into contact with.

Finally Remus made a loud, throaty noise, and shuffled his feet uneasily, causing the attention to be drawn back to him.

"Can we go? We're going to be late..."

He said timidly, adjusting his books in his arms. James withdrew his nose from the glass and shrugged, throwing a: _What's up with him?_ glance at Sirius. Sirius shrugged his shoulders in reply and nodded, taking one last look towards the giant fighting tree.

"Alright then, come on,"

-

Soon enough the boys found out that the tree was called the "whomping willow" and would hit anyone who came near it. There were rumors that it was planted over a hole, but none of them seemed all that reliable. The only thing any of the students knew about it was that it was dangerous and it was violent, and that's all it took for Sirius to become deeply intrigued by it.

"I want to touch it,"

He said the next day at lunch, after stuffing a wad of corn bread in his mouth. Remus averted his eyes, taking a sudden interest in the hem of his robes. By now he looked, by far, sicklier then ever. However, the other three boys had given up asking him about it, because he refused to tell them anything more then that it was a cold. But this didn't fool them at all.

The problem was: if it wasn't a cold... what was it?

This question bothered Sirius and James to no end, but theY dared not bring it up with Peter, otherwise he'd most likely go off on one of his rants about different unlikely things.

The conversation would probably go something like this:

"_Petey, do you think there's something wrong with Remus? We don't think it's a cold"_

"_YES! I think he's suffering from some kind of fight, maybe with a dog or a stag or... or a werewolf! YES! I bet he was bitten by a werewolf when he got here and the werewolf lives in that whole they put the womping willow over and that's why he's scared of the tree cause he thinks its going to let the werewolf through..."_

"_Pete... that's stupid, that would mean Remus was a werewolf too,"_

"_He must be! That's why he's all sickly looking! It must be getting towards the full moon and he's scared he'd hurt us! Maybe that's why he has all those scars,"_

"_Quit being stupid, that couldn't of happened,"_

"_Could too! I read it in 'Tragic Tales of Terrifying Occurrences'"_

Yes, that defiantly wouldn't be the best of ides.

Putting those thoughts aside, Sirius concentrated instead on his food, and began picking away at his ham until it was barley recognizable, but instead, a sad pile of miniature pink chunks. James looked worriedly over at Sirius' plate until he couldn't stand the action of ripping up perfectly good food and stole away his fork.

"Quit that, look what you're doing to the poor ham!"

James exclaimed, flabbergasted. Turing to look at James, Sirius' face looked annoyed.

"Give me my fork back! I can do whatever I want to my ham!"

Now James set the fork next to his plate, pressing his hand down onto it so Sirius couldn't take it. Peter looked almost scared; he didn't want his friends fighting. Launching himself towards the fork, Sirius tried in vein to rip it from James' grasp, but being a fairly good at quidditch, James held on tight.

"NOPE!"

He yelled menacingly, wrenching his arm away from Sirius' prying fingers and waving the fork high above his head. Sirius dove for the fork, catching James' wrist and pulling it towards him, attempting to take his fingers off it one by one.

By now all attention in the great hall was on the two struggling boys, and Peter seemed close to tears. They weren't fighting in a mean way, though, and it wasn't like Sirius and James were mad at each other. The fact was, they were both simply big-headed boys who wanted it their way to make the point that they were in charge. So it was more of a humorous type of situation then a hostile one.

Remus was still looking rather jumpy and irritable at this point, but kept his lips tightly clasped, as if trying to will himself not to react. This was working quite efficiently for Remus, until James' elbow landed in Remus' mashed potatoes.

"CUT IT OUT!"

He snapped, banging his fist on the table. At this sudden outburst, James and Sirius froze and stared blankly at Remus, as did the rest of the Great Hall. Remus was fuming now, and his pale face no longer looked pale, but a bright red, mad color.

"What's up with you?"

James asked quietly, pushing himself out of Remus' potatoes and sitting back slowly into his chair, Sirius following suit, with the fork, which was now held tightly in his hand, forgotten.

Peter looked very scared now, and was pretending that his fingers were suddenly the most interesting thing in the world.

"Nothing, nothing is wrong! I'm just tired of you two goofing off and messing around! It's so ANNOYING! Especially when all I want is a nice peaceful meal and you too go and bloody ruin my potatoes!"

It was then that Sirius began thinking that either Remus was having major mood swings, was completely bipolar, or really, really liked potatoes.

"Sorry Mate,"

James said weakly, whipping off the buttery mess off the elbow of his sleeve with his napkin.

"Yea, Sorry,"

Sirius added, sighing heavily. What was bugging him anyway? A whirl of red hair appeared near Remus and soon enough so did the freckly face of Miss Lily Evans, who sat down and frowned over at Remus.

"I heard you down the hall... Remus is something a matter?"

James was glaring daggers at her, this girl was always there to comfort Remus like his own little girlfriend and it was driving him insane. She was everywhere! And just like Remus, she was a book nerd who cared too much about the rules and would tattle on anyone given the chance.

But at least Remus wouldn't tattle on his best friends.

Lily Evans seemed to lack all emotion and loyalty, which made James dislike her immensely. Unfortunately, he couldn't really do anything about this girl at the moment, because if he did he'd risk another nasty outburst from the loose cannon.

"No, I'm fine now. But thanks for caring,"

At these words he shot James and Sirius an angry look, making Peter try, unsuccessfully, to become smaller in his seat, which only made him look like he'd been squished.

James glared back but Sirius hadn't really noticed Remus' look, because he was too busy winking at the girls who were staring at him from the Ravenclaw table.

No, he didn't exactly like girls yet. Quite the contrary, he thought them loud and annoying (like Miss Evans) but rather enjoyed their looks of excitement when he threw them a cocky grin.

James elbowed Sirius in the side and leaned over to whisper.

"Come on, let's go,"

Before Sirius nodded and kicked Peter's shin from across the table, jerking his head in the direction of the door. Peter nodded feebly and stole a sideways glance at Lily and Remus, as if trying to make sure if he moved Remus wouldn't blow up.

But Remus seemed to not notice any of this, because he was too engrossed in his conversation about time turners ("Wouldn't it be nice for extra studying time?") and didn't even look up when all three boys got up from the table and left the Great Hall. If Remus was indeed aware of his friend's comings and goings he didn't show it.

James was the first to start talking once they were safely out of earshot.

"What the bloody hell was that about!"

He fumed, shoving his hands in his robe pockets. Sirius adjusted his necktie around his neck so that the knot didn't make it past his chest before turning his attention back to the conversation. Peter said nothing.

"I dunno mate, but he's acting more and more like a PMS-ing woman everyday..."

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